CBS keeps Colbert's 'Late Show' in New York in tax-for-jobs deal

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

Stephen Colbert poses backstage with his awards for Outstanding Variety Series and Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles September 22, 2013. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

(Reuters) - CBS’ “Late Show” will stay in New York when comedian Stephen Colbert takes over from the late-night talk show’s host David Letterman in a deal that will award the network tax credits for jobs commitments, CBS Corp. and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.

CBS did not immediately commit to keeping the show at its only home, Manhattan’s Ed Sullivan Theater, when the network announced in April that Colbert would succeed Letterman.

Politicians in California had lobbied for the “Late Show” to move to Los Angeles after NBC’s “The Tonight Show” moved to New York from its longtime home in Burbank, California, when Jay Leno stepped aside for Jimmy Fallon in February.

CBS said it will be eligible for at least $11 million in state tax credits over five years by keeping the “Late Show” in New York, another example of how states have lured television and film production away from its traditional Los Angeles home with financial incentives.

The network will also receive $5 million in grants for renovations of the Ed Sullivan Theater and has agreed to sustain 200 New York-based jobs to support the talk show’s production.

Letterman has said he will retire in 2015 but no date has been announced.

Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Mary Milliken and James Dalgleish